Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature, is a key process in several pathological conditions, including tumor growth and eye diseases, in particular ocular neovascularization diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or diabetic macular edema (DME) (Carmeliet, P., Nature 438, 932-936, 2005). Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) stimulate angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis by activating VEGF receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinases in endothelial cells (Ferrara, N., Gerber, H. P. and LeCouter, J., Nature Med. 9, 669-676, 2003).
The mammalian VEGF family consists of five glycoproteins referred to as VEGF-A, VEGF-B, VEGF-C, VEGF-D (also known as FIGF) and placenta growth factor (PIGF, also known as PGF). VEGF-A has been shown to be an effective target for anti-angiogenic therapy (Ellis, L. M. and Hicklin, D. J., Nature Rev. Cancer 8, 579-591, 2008). The VEGF-A ligands bind to and activate three structurally similar type III receptor tyrosine kinases, designated VEGFR-1 (also known as FLT1), VEGFR-2 (also known as KDR) and VEGFR-3 (also known as FLT4). The VEGF ligands have distinctive binding specificities for each of these tyrosine kinase receptors, which contribute to their diversity of function. In response to ligand binding, the VEGFR tyrosine kinases activate a network of distinct downstream signaling pathways. VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 are primarily found on the vascular endothelium whereas VEGFR-3 is mostly found on the lymphatic endothelium. These receptors all have an extracellular domain, a single transmembrane region and a consensus tyrosine kinase sequence interrupted by a kinase-insert domain. More recently neuropilin (NRP-1), originally identified as a receptor for the semaphorin/collapsin family of neuronal guidance mediators, was shown to act as an isoform specific receptor for VEGF-A.
Various isoforms of VEGF-A are known that are generated by alternative splicing from eight exons within the VEGF-A gene. All isoforms contain exons 1-5 and the terminal exon, exon 8. Exons 6 and 7, which encode heparin-binding domains, can be included or excluded. This gives rise to a family of proteins termed according to their amino acid number: VEGF-A165, VEGF-A121, VEGF-A189, and so on. Exon 8, however, contains two 3′ splice sites in the nucleotide sequences, which can be used by the cell to generate two families of isoforms with identical length, but differing C-terminal amino acid sequences (Varey, A. H. R. et al., British J. Cancer 98, 1366-1379, 2008). VEGF-Axxx (“xxx” denotes the amino acid number of the mature protein), the pro-angiogenic family of isoforms, is generated by use of the most proximal sequence in exon 8 (resulting in the inclusion of exon 8a). The more recently described anti-angiogenic VEGF-Axxxb isoforms are generated by the use of a distal splice site, 66 bp further along the gene from the proximal splice site. This results in splicing out of exon 8a and the production of mRNA sequences that encode the VEGF-Axxxb family. VEGF-A165 is the predominant pro-angiogenic isoform and is commonly overexpressed in a variety of human solid tumors. VEGF-A165b was the first of the exon 8b-encoded isoforms identified and was shown to have anti-angiogenic effects (Varey et al., loc. cit.; Konopatskaya, O. et al., Molecular Vision 12, 626-632, 2006). It is an endogenous inhibitory form of VEGF-A, which decreases VEGF-A induced proliferation and migration of endothelial cells. Although it can bind to VEGFR-2, VEGF-A165b binding does not result in receptor phosphorylation or activation of the downstream signaling pathways.
There are several approaches to inhibiting VEGF-A signaling, including neutralization of the ligand or receptor by antibodies, and blocking VEGF-A receptor activation and signaling with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. VEGF-A targeted therapy has been shown to be efficacious as a single agent in AMD, DME, renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, whereas it is only of benefit when combined with chemotherapy for patients with metastatic colorectal, non-small-cell lung and metastatic breast cancer (Narayanan, R. et al., Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 5, 815-816, 2005; Ellis and Hicklin, loc. cit).
Beside antibodies other binding domains can be used to neutralize a ligand or a receptor (Skerra, A., J. Mol. Recog. 13, 167-187, 2000; Binz, H. K., Amstutz, P. and Plückthun, A., Nat. Biotechnol. 23, 1257-1268, 2005). One such novel class of binding domains are based on designed repeat domains (WO 02/20565; Binz, H. K., Amstutz, P., Kohl, A., Stumpp, M. T., Briand, C., Forrer, P., Gruffer, M. G., and Plückthun, A., Nat. Biotechnol. 22, 575-582, 2004). WO 02/20565 describes how large libraries of repeat proteins can be constructed and their general application. Nevertheless, WO 02/20565 does neither disclose the selection of repeat domains with binding specificity for VEGF-Axxx nor concrete repeat sequence motifs of repeat domains that specifically bind to VEGF-Axxx.
Targeting VEGF-A with currently available therapeutics is not effective in all patients, or for all diseases (e.g., EGFR-expressing cancers). It has even become increasingly apparent that the therapeutic benefit associated with VEGF-A targeted therapy is complex and probably involves multiple mechanisms (Ellis and Hicklin, loc. cit.). For example, marketed anti-VEGF drugs, such as bevacizumab (Avastin®) or ranibizumab (Lucentis®) (see WO 96/030046, WO 98/045331 and WO 98/045332) or drugs in clinical development, such as VEGF-Trap® (WO 00/075319) do not distinguish between the pro- and anti-angiogenic forms of VEGF-A, so they do inhibit both. As a result, they inhibit angiogenesis, but also deprive healthy tissues of an essential survival factor, namely VEGF-Axxxb, resulting in cytotoxicity and dose-limiting side effects, which in turn limit efficacy. Side effects common to current anti-VEGF-A therapies are gastrointestinal perforations, bleeding, hypertension, thromboembolic events and proteinuria (Kamba, T. and McDonald, D. M., Br. J. Cancer 96, 1788-95, 2007). Thus, a need exists for improved anti-angiogenic agents for treating cancer and other pathological conditions.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is to identify novel anti-angiogenic agents, such as repeat domains with binding specificity to VEGF-Axxx, for an improved treatment of cancer and other pathological conditions, e.g. eye diseases such as AMD or DME. The solution to this technical problem is achieved by providing the embodiments characterized in the claims.